I get this question A LOT. At least twice a week someone says to me, these paints look easy but can they really be that easy? The answer is YES! So just to prove it to you I thought I'd write up a tutorial on painting a cabinet door with Reclaim so you can see the process and magic.

I started with a simple cabinet sample door I had and I cleaned the heck out of it. The only cleaner we use is Simple Green, which can be purchased at your local home improvement store. I spray the surface with Simple Green and scrub with a Scotch Brite sponge to get all the wax and grease off. Then I take a damp cloth and wipe away the residue and dirt. Once the door is completely dry I'm ready to begin.

The next step is the hardest part of the whole process-picking your color. Reclaim has a great selection of colors to choose from but sometimes they just won't cut it. In those cases, we mix custom colors like I did here. This is a deep gray/green made from Sage, Pebble, and Licorice.

I begin by taking a chip brush and "mushing" or dabbing the paint into crevices and places my roller won't reach. Don't apply too thick. You'll be surprised by how little paint you actually use.

See those small air bubbles? COMPLETELY NORMAL! Don't stress yourself out trying to make these disappear. It's a futile effort and the the air bubbles are crucial to the paint completing its job and leveling out as it dries.

Once I'm done mushing, I'm ready to roll. We only use an ALL PURPOSE FABRIC ROLLER! This is another very important part of the process. These rollers hold just the right amount of paint, lay out the paint evenly, and don't create more of those air bubbles we talked about than necessary. Load up your roller and get to rolling. Sometimes you can even take the roller over those areas you mushed. For example, the outer edge of the door. You can even hit the inner crevice with your roller, when it's not fully loaded, to even out your mush marks.

That's it! You're down to your last step. WALK AWAY! Walk away and let the paint dry and do its thing. When you come back those bubbles will have disappeared and the paint will have leveled out. Most cases, its two coat coverage. Although you can see from the following picture how well just one coat covered.

Hopefully this helps those of you nervous about painting your own cabinets. If you're interested in a custom color of your own, email us or give us a call and we can discuss your color direction and how we make custom colors for you!

We had a wonderful weekend at the Southern Ideal Home Show and enjoyed meeting so many new faces and hearing about your projects in your own homes! I couldn't help but notice that a lot of people graviatated toward one particular finish, Country Living Texture Basecoat in Wisteria with Toner. I can't say as I blame you. It's a beautiful twist on a classic that gives more character to your piece/cabinets than just traditional glazing. In response to its popularity, though, I thought I'd post a quick tutorial here! The sample at the show was over a piece of espresso stained wood but I made this quick example today on a melamine cabinet sample I had.

So, of course, this is just the basic door but I add this to remind you of the most important step... CLEANING! I clean with Simple Green and a Scotch Brite sponge to remove any wax and grease. Then I wipe the cabinets clean with a damp cloth to remove any leftover residue. Once it's completely dry than you're good to go.

The first step is simply to "mush" the paint onto the surface. It sounds easy... because it is. There's no rhyme or reason to painting. Just go for full coverage and try to steer clear of any extreme clumping in the crevices. This will only lead to more sanding work for you in the next step. Here is also where you can begin to affect the texture of your final product. The thicker you apply the paint... the more texture.

Once you're done, allow the surface to completely dry then you're onto the next step. Sanding. It's not as bad as it sounds and you can effect your final product a lot. More sanding will lead to less texture... less sanding, more texture. You get the picture. I like using sanding blocks because they bend and mold to the surface and allow me to better get into the crevices. For wide surface areas, a mouse hand sander will certainly make the job go faster but it's not neccessary. I also like to use around 150-180 grit.

Once you're done sanding there's only one step left-toning. Wipe away all the dirt and grit from sanding, a damp cloth or even a swiffer takes care of this easily. I recommend practicing your toning technique, especially on a white surface, the toning will be even more important and noticeable. Practice on a scrap piece of wood, or the back of your cabinets so by the time you get to the fronts of your doors you're an expert!

Brush on the toner in workable areas! Always start smaller than you think and as you get more confident then you can move on to bigger expanses. Remove by wiping away with a clean cloth. It works well to shape you cloth into a rose-like shape and constantly move the cloth over the surface until you have your desired look. A slightly damp cloth will remove more toner and a dry cloth will remove less. I recommend a slightly damp cloth for removing toner from such a bright white color.

Try to keep your lap lines from being straight lines and as you work into new areas brush a little bit of toner slightly beyond where you stopped to give more fluid look in the end so you won't see each section you toned. After toning, YOU'RE DONE! Remember, the toner is supposed to catch and be heavier in the crevices.

I hope this helps those of you who want to put this classic finish in your own home! Just remember to practice on the back of your doors or scrap wood, and to tone in small workable sections and you'll have a great result!

I was blessed to make a trip to the Country Living Fair in Atlanta this past October. First let me say, completely worth the trip! We had an amazing time, bought way too much, walked away with way too many ideas, and also had a pile of things I purchased and hadn't got around to doing anything with. Needless to say, the pile of great stuff in the corner of my guest room was making sad and I decided to make a dent in it one project at a time.

One of my first purchases was a vintage flashcard printed with the word 'dishes.' Simple I know, but we have a large spot above the kitchen window above the sink and I knew I wanted to do something with this flashcard there. Wasn't sure what that project would be but at 75 cents for the flashcard I figured it was worth the gamble. So it sat... for 6 months and here we are. I finally decided what to do. I took a wooden frame I'd purchased when I first got married and had done a horrible paint job with blue latex paint. It was then relegated to storage so I pulled it out and revamped it.

Our kitchen cabinets are green so I went with cobblestone as the underlayer. I did sand back the frame slightly before beginning. However, the frame had extremely sharp edges and I wanted smooth, more rounded, edges. I could have done this during the distressing but I wanted to minimize the chance of the blue coming through and didn't want to be limited once I'd finished painting. I mushed Textured Basecoat Cobblestone and went for full coverage, again to minimize any chance of the blue coming through.

I followed it up with Country Living Chipping Creme-that all important isolation barrier between the colors and to give the most authentic distressed look out there with minimal work. The Chipping Creme goes on milky and dries completely clear. Once its clear, you're ready to move on to the next color.

I followed that layer with Texture Basecoat Peppercorn. I've always loved black in kitchens and hope to have at least black lower cabinets one day but until we rework the kitchen to have more natural light, I'll have to settle for black accents like this frame.

I wanted relatively full coverage but, as you can see, I wasn't overly concerned with getting complete coverage and parts of the cobblestone were still peaking through.

Once dry, I sanded back to my desired amount of distress. Best part... no blue came through! Here's a quick shot, up-close, of the frame right after I'd finished distressing. One side shows the dust still on the frame and the other is the reveal once the dust is wiped away. If you're unsure, along the way if you've distressed enough, stop and wipe away the dust. Many times it will reveal that you've distressed more than you believed and the dust was just concealing it.

Gorgeous right! I was so excited at this point and then remembered I had to figure out exactly how to mount the flashcard. I decided on attaching an old piece of tablecloth fabric I had to the cardboard backing and then mounting the flashcard to the fabric. I say 'mount.' What I really mean is that I cut and taped the fabric and then taped the flashcard into the middle of the board. Let's just say, when I need serious things done with fabric... I hire someone. No questions asked.

So finally, after six months, I've finally finished a project from the CL Fair! I love the frame and it really feels like it was made for the spot. If you want to make something similar to this, don't worry, you don't need to purchase quarts. I have sample sizes of all the colors, and chipping creme as well, and its more than enough to complete a frame like this and a few more! Hope y'all have a great week!

We've spent the past two weeks traveling across the state and were blessed to take part in the Southern Ideal Home Show and the High Point Furniture Market. We were joined by Monahan Papers for the furniture market and were able to see the beautiful pairing of her papers with the new botanicals collection and it was amazing. Not only are the Monahan Botanicals colors stunning and a wonderfully crafted palette, the packaging is beautiful. I spent the entire week moving from one favorite color to the next. Every combination was incredible and I even found myself venturing out from by standby greens to the beautiful blues of Iris and Hydrangea in this collection.

Stephanie had brought along an old chair she was hoping we could work on during the week. The decades old paint job was falling away so we wiped away the paint we could (paint fell from the chair if you walked past it) and found the original paint color. This tiny speck left over from years ago was a perfect match to Dandelion, so the decision what color to paint was already made for us. A quick dry brush of Cattail revitalized the seat and we had an almost perfect match to the original colors of the chair!

Now that we're home we've spent the weekend unpacking and enjoy meals from our own kitchen instead of through a window. We had a fantastic time and have another busy week of consults and projects ahead of us! Hope y'all have a great week and we'll be back soon with more projects and how-tos.